xxi. BEAUTY FOR ASHES. 361 



the groves is destroyed by fire, the burning of the trees 

 causes the scales of the cones to open, and the seed 

 which they contain is scattered profusely upon the 

 ground ; and on the bare blackened site of the old grove 

 a young green plantation of similar pines springs forth. 

 This curious adaptation explains the remarkable circum- 

 stance that all the trees of the grove are of the same 

 age. In an equally remarkable way the fires in the 

 Australian bush, which * are so destructive to the forests 

 of that country, are made the very means of reproducing 

 the vegetation. One of the most common trees of these 

 forests, the wattle, or native acacia, is specially adapted 

 not only to survive these bush fires, but even to profit 

 by them. Its seeds will not germinate until they are 

 plunged in boiling water, or, if left to themselves, until 

 they have been scorched by a forest fire. The burning 

 of an old forest is therefore necessary to develop a new 

 generation of fresher and more vigorous trees. 



Another illustration of the principle may be derived 

 from volcanic regions. No scenes of earth are lovelier 

 than those which are subjected to the frequent de- 

 structive action of volcanoes. The Bay of Naples is 

 confessedly one of those spots in which scenic beauty 

 has culminated, in which are focused all the charms of 

 landscape loveliness. Its beauty seems more a revela- 

 tion of the inner soul of the universe than a mere re- 

 flection of transparent air and brilliant sunshine. And 

 yet this second Eden is the creation of volcanic fires. 

 No soil is so fertile as crumbling lava and volcanic 

 ashes. The destroyer of the fields and gardens is thus 



